The fact that I’ve already written this post and WordPress failed to save my draft is no help.

I have trouble keeping up with all sorts of things, social media being no exception.

I do best at Facebook, because my family and closest friends are there. I’m connected to fewer than 150 people which means I generally interact with the same 20 people all the time. I love those people. They’re my original Facebook friends, the original cast, you might say, before everyone and their brother was on the Facebook, wanting to friend you for who knows what reason.
Plus, Facebook has word games.I love word games.

I don’t understand Google+ but I have a page there. That I almost never use. I’d tell you how many people are in my circles or how many people added me to their circles, but for the sake of argument, let’s say I understand the mathematics of actual circles better than I understand Google+ circles.

I love Twitter, but I fall behind there.
At the beginning, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could expect to develop relationships with strangers through a series of 140-character spurts, but now, if I skip a few days from Twitter, I actually miss people I’ve never met, whose names I do not even know. And y’all, when I log in, I am so glad they’re still there!
I follow about 2500 and am followed by about 2800. It is impossible to read all the tweets of 2800 people. I have a list of about 170 people I like, and who I have a general sense of — I swing by now and again. I have a list of 18 people I adore, whom I really should read daily.
The other 2600 people? I really don’t have a clue wtf they’re going on about, and I’m not sure they do, either.
On Twitter, I lol and cackle and chuckle and grin and snort and lmao and pmsl, and sometimes tears of laughter stream down my face.I like to laugh.

Instagram is a nice, easy, drama-free app, but I struggle with Photo a Day. Sometimes I open the topic of the day, I roll my eyes and say, “Fuck you ‘#4 Inspiration,’ I don’t even feel remotely inspired.” I worked at finding the right thing, but sometimes I couldn’t find the right thing, so I’d take a photo of somethin kinda lame just to have a photo of the day.
Same with tags. Honestly, I do not enjoy taking the #sds (stop, drop, & selfie) on the regular. My #sds pics? Joey generally wears the same ten shirts, (white, blue, pink, or black) wears the same three hairstyles, (messy up, messy down, or straightened) and pretty much goes to the same three places every day (living room, kitchen, and yard.) I don’t change enough to make a daily selfie even remotely intriguing. I enjoy the selfies of others, but I prefer posting pictures that narrate my life.I like pictures of flora, fauna, and food.

Which brings me to WordPress, where I follow 366.
Compared to the number of people who follow my blog, that’s really low. But you cannot tell me you read every single post of 100+ followers. I mean, you could tell me that, but I’d think you’re lying. Some people post multiple times a day, and some of those posts are so long! If I read all the blogs of those I follow, I’d be chained to WordPress!
It’s not a matter of “I’ll follow you and then you’ll follow me.” For one thing, anywhere there’s a follow option, that means that people follow solely to get follows. On WordPress, plenty of people read two or three posts, like them, make a few comments, follow you, and you never see them again.
I read people who don’t follow me, and who probably never read me. I find great new blogs regularly, which means I start using my time to read those blogs and spend less time reading some other blogs. I regularly follow and unfollow. That’s how it goes. It only seems right that people pick and choose.

Maybe you enjoy my nature posts, but you hate my liberal rantings. Maybe you love my rants, the more profanity the better, but if you hafta read one more boring post about a fat fucking squirrel, you will gouge your own eyes out. Who should I aim to please?
Uh, me, cause it’s my blog.

I am here to enjoy my life.

This post is a metaphor for relationships, occupations, and lifestyles.

Life is short even if you live to 100.
There’s an abundance of choices.
Act accordingly.

46 Responses to K is for Keeping Up

That just about sums it up for me too. Except for Instagram which I haven’t quite figured out yet. Also, you may be happy to know that they’ve unofficially decided to scrap Google+, I read recently that they’ll be spinning off the components that people actually use into their other services.

I too have a job keeping up with things on Social media, but I try to keep my hand in. I am slowly getting more acquainted with ‘Twitter’ but it’s a slow process being a bit of a dunce at these things!

You’re right, the connected world is too big to really pay attention to. If I follow your blog via email, it means I read every post. OK, I at least look at every post to see if I want to read it. If you’re in my Daily list on Twitter, I might see your tweets. FB is pretty much as you describe it. Instagram, really, I don’t have a clue. I have photos on Flickr and some on my blog. That’s enough. I have some on Piterest but mainly so I can use them on my blog.

You basically have said everything that was inside my head about this. I do Facebook for the same reasons you do. I don’t understand Google + nor do I have time to understand it. I have about twenty or thirty Blogs I read regularly but I simply do not have the time nor for any more than that. I don’t really do any other sort of social media because I know I would never keep up and I don’t really have enough to say to justify another platform.
Now, can I tell you a little about my personal relationship with Jesus?

You can write about your personal relationship with Jesus, but I won’t read it 😉
And if you agree with me so much, why don’t you re-blog and share this with your followers, LOL 😉
I enjoy that you’re snarky, for I am snarky, too 😀

I think you’re singing everyone’s tune here. Like you, on Twitter I have a couple lists I regularly check in on and a few more I try to get to weekly if I can. The rest–yikes, I’m not so good at. Occasionally I’ll look at my actual timeline, but there’s so much noise there, I don’t last long.

You are certainly great at keeping up when I read of your social network life. Mine is far less busy. Keeping up with the A to Z challenge is no feast either. I enjoy your thinking and writing style and I cannot agree more with you on the fact that life is short and that we’ve got to make choices. Hard sometimes but necessary. See you tomorrow, Joey.

I get a lot from you Joey…like SoCS, which I have fun doing. But I’m definitely not finding that they like me….lol…it’s a more mommy/wifey/friendly place, and I think they find me OFFENSIVE, but I don’t care, it sparks creativity. As do you, all the time. 🙂

Well said, Joey. Time + Interest = BloggyVille friendship. That’s my formula. Some days there’s not enough of one or the other on the left half of the equation for me to successfully solve it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take another crack at it when the next post pops up and I have a second to look at it.

Well said. I am seriously wondering what some people follow my blog for, because they seem to hate everything I post. Too bad, “I’m gonna do the things I wanna do. I ain’t gotta thing to prove to you.”

Brilliant – I love reading your blog (so cheeky and true) – you’re actually one of maybe ten blogs that I have saved in my tool bar. And most of the others are actually writer friends of mine that I know personally. AND IT IS EXHAUSTING! I find it so tough to maintain real relationships with friends, and make time to read all the wonderful literature in print that I so love, plus post to all these sites and maintain communications. It competes with real life, which I think is so much more important sometimes.

Great post. Sorry for reading this late, but the reason for the delay is the same as you mentioned – Keeping Up. I feel the same amount of pressure subconsciously. I have to handle my personal and professional routine, look after the home, write and then read the blogs of all those who appreciated and liked my blog and commented. No matter how hard I try only stay connected with around 10 to 15 blogs (you’re one of the writers I read now).